Bare Bottom Pond Or Not

[Diver]

Question or maybe a survey.
Are you in favor of a bare bottom pond
or
a pond with the liner totally covered by rocks of differing sizes
or
a combination of both?

 

[fishin4cars]

Bare Bottom. If you still want rock bottom I suggest looking at waterbugs web page and see how he mortars the rock in place so there are no voids. I spent the day removing Koi poo and much today. 4 - 5 gallon buckets worth. My pond is 6 months old, 50 fish from babies to four or five that are close to two feet. SO, glad I'm putting a bottom drain in the new pond we are building for the koi now. This was a job but so glad I didn't have to deal with rocks!

 

[Shdwdrgn]

I put down a bed of small river rocks in my first pond... ugh what a mess! Too many nooks and crannies for leaves to get in to, and you just can't clean it without a lot of work. It looked great for the first month, and then it looked terrible, and I ended up just removing all the rock.

On the other hand, I have about 3 inches of white sand on the bottom of my current pond. The leaves tend to drift over the surface of the sand, and between the flow of the water and the activity of the fish, not too much actually settles to the bottom. For the stuff that does settle, I have a coarse net that I can scoop through the sand - the sand falls through the net and the leaves get scooped up. So far I've really been liking this setup, and my lilies just love putting their roots down in the sand.

Of course the main problem with your original question is that every pond is different, so you cannot simply generalize what would be best for all ponds.

 

[kougs]

As stated above, I researched first and read all the perils of placing rocks in a pond. I went without rocks. Hope This helps.

 

[Mmathis]

I vote for NO rocks.

 

[multifasited]

Everything ,you put in a pond hides or collects some thing ,beautiful at first ,beauty does not last long ,The K.I.S.S principal .really works here ,just sand ,current , filteration and fish !

 

[Diver]

Isn't that something, I have had several ponds over the past 25 years and never had rocks or stones in it. Just raound the top to keep the liner from being visible.
A so called Pond expert and owner of a company that sells and installs ponds insisted that you need rocks and stones in all ponds.
While I agree that it will help in maintaining beneficial bacteria, I think it is too much trouble to keep ponds clean with all that rockwork in it.
It might help keep the racoons from clawing holes in the liner as they try to scratch their way out of the pond. Bastards!

 

[j.w]

Yikes Diver raccoons in your pond clawing their way out? How deep is your pond? I tried to make my pond w/ pretty straight sides so they can't walk in and if they fell in I think they could still get out by the little pond ledge I made to put rocks on to hide the liner in the water. Like a little step w/ big rocks on it and then it goes up to the upper rocks around the edge. That way they can't make contact w/ the liner. My pond is 18" deep to the lower plant ledge and then 2&1/2' down to the bottom. Never had a raccoon in there and hope I don't and they are around here. No rocks on the bottom tho. Some here do have them but it takes a bit of work I believe to keep them clean.

 

[sissy]

I vote no rocks and the one thing I did right from the start and if you have raccoons you will end up with no fish .I would net the top of the pond you build to try and deter them I use window screening and sew pockets in each end and put a pipe through the pockets and put that over my pond .I use fishing line as the thread .

 

[Diver]

I have an electric fence around that pond right now.
Then the Herons came. Now I have a Plastic Heron.
Then the Chipmunks came (like I had mentioned elswhere). Now I have holes in the liner.
Years ago I had neighbor kids with fishing poles. Back in the day when you could still beat the shit out of them for coming onto your property. :razz:

 

[multifasited]

I have an electric fence around that pond right now.
Then the Herons came. Now I have a Plastic Heron.
Then the Chipmunks came (like I had mentioned elswhere). Now I have holes in the liner.
Years ago I had neighbor kids with fishing poles. Back in the day when you could still beat the shit out of them for coming onto your property. :razz:

I'm glad you did'nt resort to drastic measures ,I pity the chipmunks ,fence 220 Volt ?,& a plastic covered heron ,tough neighborhood! LOL ! Sounds like we have a retired NAVY SEAL in a teflon WET SUIT .
Welcome aboard SIR!

 

[Diver]

Meanwhile I have come to the conclusion of pulling out the old liner and I will re dig the sides to 90 degree angles.
No, no, no SEAL just a beached Orca.

 

[sissy]

LET YOUR BOTTOM SHOW :razz:

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Isn't that something, I have had several ponds over the past 25 years and never had rocks or stones in it. Just raound the top to keep the liner from being visible.
A so called Pond expert and owner of a company that sells and installs ponds insisted that you need rocks and stones in all ponds. I'll bet that guy also offers a yearly draining and cleaning $ervice for his rocked bottom ponds, an ongoing income for him the would be lost if you didn't put rocks in.
There is a reason high end koi ponds never have rocks covered bottoms.

While I agree that it will help in maintaining beneficial bacteria, I think it is too much trouble to keep ponds clean with all that rockwork in it. Muck covered rocks won't maintain the proper kind of bacteria, and rocks on the bottom will quickly get covered in muck.

It might help keep the racoons from clawing holes in the liner as they try to scratch their way out of the pond. Bastards!
If a raccoon was trying to claw his way out of a pond the scratched holes would be on the sides or edge of the pond, not on the bottom.

 

[Diver]

Thanks for that insight.